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Yakity Yaks
Yackity Yaks are puppet children's toy in the form of a talking bear wearing a hanker chief and monkey wearing a necktie, released by Hasbro1 in 1986. The toy's are 17" in height, and sits at approximately 14" tall. Contents * 1 History * 2 Mechanics and parts * 3 Hasbro Dealer Catalog * 4 References * 5 External links History Bingo Bear (Hasbro Item: 70501) and Monkgomery Monkey (Hasbro Item: 70502) were part of the Hasbro Softies, the line was called "Yakity Yaks" their debut in 1986 was not highly received as Ruxpin, but toy sellers pointed to them for less expensive alternative products for parents that could not afford Ruxpin. The puppets were also less breakable with no gears and no movable parts. Which in turn made them more cuddly for children. Additional speech modules provided 200 new words (each came with a different outfit). Dr. Bingo and Space Bingo kits for Bingo Bear were supposed to be out for the end of December 1986 and Safari Monkgomery kit for Monkgomery Monkey was supposed to be released a month later in January 1987. The Hasbro dealer catalog also has a Monkgomery Monkey Clown Outfit and Rock Star Bingo Bear Outfit (Unknown if released). The toys sold for about $70 and the extra word module kits for $20. A lot of these toys are still in working order today, if the batteries were not left in to corrode. Mechanics and parts The monkey has a hand hole in back to manipulate mouth movements which also contained a pressure sensitive switch on the top of the mouth and a solid mass on the bottom to engage the switch mechanism. The engagement would then trigger the electronic speech integrated circuit TMS5110ANL in action. Voice over done by Bill Cochran that contained 400 words that made up 100 phrases, which were stored in Texas Instrument CM62060N2L, CM62059N2L, E7CL04N2L ICs. The words were then played out on an 8Ω, 0.25 Watt F.S.T F05702 mono speaker. The board also contained an 9 pin edge connector for expansion modules which none have been verified in existence, just a blurb on the back of the box stating what it is for. These parts were built into a brown plastic box with a 4-AA Battery holder (Batteries not included). The brown box was zipped inside the back of the monkey's back with two snaps for fastening inside and a removable 8 pin connector cable for interactions with Mouth switch, "Tickle" sensors, Right ear, Right foot, Others?. The toy has a removable yellow tie with red polka dots, monogrammed with "Monkgomery". It was created by Hasbro to compete with Teddy Ruxpin before Hasbro bought Ruxpin, and Monkgomery's packaging draws deliberate comparison, describing him as "a unique and interactive, joke-telling, talking monkey with no on-off switches, no tapes to wear out or break and no solid state cartridges". Monkgomery's vocabulary included jokes such as "Why did the monkey throw the clock out the window?", questions such as "What's your favorite part of the zoo?" and responses to the user, such as "Tell me more!". The range of phrases could be expanded with expansion modules, sold separately. The toy has two Velcro strips on his hands allowing him to be hung from objects. Words / Phrase List Hasbro Dealer Catalog References # "This Isn't Just Another Talking Dog Story". NYT. 1986-12-24. External links * Voice Over artist site with MP3 of speech from Monkgomery * ADVERTISING; Yakity Yak Animals Coming From Hasbro * The Talk Of The Tots * Toys Leading The Field Of Speech Synthesis Pg.5 * Bingo Bear * Bingo Bear commercial * Hasbro Toy Catalog with the Yakity Yaks PG.73 (75) * Children play with high-tech toys that talk * Canada trade-mark data * USA trade-mark data * Speech IC Bingo Bear Monkgomery Monkey